http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118051452?refCatId=13

European Commission plans incentives cap

By IAN MUNDELL

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has proposed caps on how much public subsidy money can be used to tempt foreign film production to the region.

The aim is to prevent European countries from using subsidies to compete among themselves for prestigious Hollywood projects.

Non-Euro filmmakers bringing productions budgeted below €10 million ($13 million) to Europe will be allowed to draw up to half their coin from local subsidies, the same allowed to local films.

But aid for foreign films with budgets between $13 million and $26 million would fall to 30%, and drop to just 10% for films budgeted above $26 million.

“Setting a cap will ensure that other parameters for the location decision-making, such as the quality of local crew, stages and technology remain decisive, and that competition takes place primarily on the basis of quality and price, rather than on the basis of state aid,” the Commission said in a policy document proposing the limits.

The proposals, released for consultation Wednesday, are part of a review of Euro law on subsidies for film production. The current rules, set in 2001, lapse at the end of this year.

Read the entire article at the link above.